Our Best Buy, this feature-packed compression utility provides solid compression and encryption options. This versatile app extracts a vast range of file formats, including essentials like .zip. It also extracts, though it won't burn, .iso, .nrg, .img, and .bin CD/DVD images (single large files that are an exact copy of what will appear on a disc). PowerArchiver also offers some excellent extra features, including an easy-to-use automated file backup wizard and the ability to upload backups to an FTP server, all without leaving the program. At $20 (as of 12/6/06), PowerArchiver offers more features than the respective $30, $29, and $25 entry-level versions of WinZip, WinRAR, and StuffIt. It's definitely an attractive option if you're looking for an archive tool that includes automated backup/FTP capabilities.

A strong feature set and impressive flexibility are what we love most about PowerArchiver. It natively supports more than a dozen compression formats, including CAB, RAR, and ZIP, as well as the BIN, IMG, ISO, and NRG disc-image formats. Also, you can encrypt your archives using one of five secure algorithms.

Its wide range of formats and functions help PowerArchiver 2004 compete in a category dominated by WinZip. The archive utility supports 19 compression formats, including the new 7-Zip format, which offers extremely high compression ratios. For security, you can encrypt your archives using either the AES or PAE method. The program works swiftly and reliably. The configuration menu lets you customize almost every feature, including a password manager for encrypted archives, a self-extracting wizard, and an autobackup tool. The batch ZIP tool compresses hundreds of files in one shot, and the multi-extract tool unpacks hundreds of archives at once. The program now supports unlimited-size ZIP archives. Anyone who needs to work with archive files will find PowerArchiver a versatile, affordable alternative.

PowerArchiver 2006: The New King of Compression? With all that PowerArchiver does, its developers must have had to use a compression utility themselves to squeeze in its many features. The program offers lots of options and supports a dizzying array of compression standards. And despite this, PowerArchiver is easy to learn and use. Pros: Excellent features for power users; attractive, easy-to-use interface for novices; less expensive than primary competition (WinZip and PKZIP); full skinning support.

If you play games a lot, you constantly download demos, patches, updates, and Internet-only releases. Most of these are in compressed form, requiring a special decompression utility to handle all the formats; after considerable hunting, I finally found one – PowerArchiver – that is incredibly powerful, small, and fast, and stands head-and-shoulders above all other competitors. PowerArchiver's tools cover security password management, backup creation, format conversion, compressed file repair, and multi-volume, batch, and multi-archive management. I love having a single utility that will decompress or compress any game code I want.

„PowerArchiver looks and feels exactly like a highly downloaded program called WinZip. It adds quite a few more compression types making this program considerably better. Compression utilities rely on this feature alone, and it appears to be top notch.“

„Use PowerArchiver to manage all your compressed archives. It's versatile, powerful, easy to use, and the price is simply unbeatable. This full-featured ZIP program provides the power you need to do anything you can imagine with ZIP files… Powerful shell integration features include on-the-fly ZIP file creation, email support, and more.“